Commissioners deal with adding water lines, Tampa Bay Water plans and stagnant pools breeding mosquitoes.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published October 15, 2003
DADE CITY - Water, underground, in pipes and stagnating in puddles on the ground, dominated Tuesday's City Commission meeting as commissioners wrestled with utilities expansion, mosquitoes and Tampa Bay Water's continued interest in east Pasco groundwater.
Preparing for the first meeting of a newly minted east Pasco municipal association set for Oct. 22, City Manager Harold Sample told commissioners that Tampa Bay Water is considering well field expansion plans that could sink new wells at Dade City's doorstep inside the Prospect Road loop south of State Road 52.
Sample said commissioners from Dade City, St. Leo, San Antonio and Zephyrhills need to be ready to deal with Tampa Bay Water's growing web of wells and water lines.
Tampa Bay Water is a regional authority created to serve the water demands of the Tampa Bay region. Critics have complained the agency's pumping led to environmental damage in central Pasco.
The agency, in a letter introducing its expansion possibilities, wrote, "Cypress Bridge II, if built, will help meet Pasco County's future drinking water demand."
A version of the long-range plan got the early nod from agency heads in 2001.
A public hearing on the Cypress Bridge II plan, and other proposals, is set for Oct. 28 from 6-9 p.m. in the Oldsmar City Hall, 100 State St. W, Oldsmar.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, Sample said the potential developers of an apartment complex west of town near the intersection of Happy Hill Road and State Road 52 are considering moving ahead with the long-simmering plans and are asking the city about providing water and sewer lines.
In 2001, commissioners said they would be available to provide utilities to help Tampa developer William Ware and his company, Ware Realty Financial Services. The company is considering a 184-unit apartment complex at the end of Janke Road.
Sample said city staffers and developers are looking at ways to extend city water and sewer lines to the complex while sharing expenses and recouping costs from new developments that could follow the utilities expansion.
"The project that is on again, off again, and now on again is probably one of many," Commissioner Hutch Brock said.
"Anywhere we have water and sewer lines, that's a strength for us," Mayor Scott Black said.
And as commissioners consider the big picture items of water services and control of water resources, Sample said this summer's rain left standing water that is breeding mosquitoes at an alarming rate.
"There's just too much water everywhere and they are still breeding," he said. "We can just hope for cooler weather."
Sample said now that the city officially is part of the county mosquito control district, he is working with district officials to combat the boom.
District workers are touring the area with Dade City employees, surveying for mosquito hot spots. The district is developing a plan to attack the pesky bugs with aerial spraying, larvae-eating fish and possibly bat houses, which become home to hundreds of mosquito-devouring bats.
"You just have to place the bat houses where they won't be offensive themselves, because of the droppings," Sample said.
